Directory_and_Chronicle_1893 — Page 446

KOBE-HYOGO

Kobe was until 1892 the foreign port of the adjoining town of Hyogo and was opened to foreign trade in 1868; in October, 1892, Hyogo was also declared by the Japanese Government to form part of the open port. The port is finely situated on the Idzumi-nada, at the gate of the far-famed Inland Sea. The harbour is good and affords safe anchorage for vessels of almost any size. The two towns face the landlocked water covered with white sails, while behind, at a distance of about a mile, rises a range of picturesque and lofty hills, some of which attain an altitude of about 2,500 feet, and the steep sides of which are partly covered with pines. Kobe and Hyogo stretch for some three miles along this strip of land between the hills and the water. The Foreign Concession at Kobe is well laid out, the streets are broad and clean, and lighted with gas. There is a Municipal Council consisting of the Governor, the Foreign Consuls, and three elected members of the community. The Bund has a fine stone embankment and extends the whole length of Kobe. The foreign houses are neatly built, and the Sannomiya railway station, within three minutes' walk of the Concession, has a very English look. The railway terminus is at the other end of Kobe, where it meets Hyogo, and there are extensive carriage works adjoining the station. A rice-cleaning mill was started here in 1885. The foreign concession at Kobe is the "model settlement" of Japan. There is a good Club and a spacious recreation ground at the East end of the settlement. The Union Protestant Church and a French Roman Catholic Church are in the Concession, and there is also a native Protestant Church in Kobe town. The Hyogo Hotel is situated on the Bund, at the west end of the settlement; the Oriental Hotel, and the Hotel des Colonies; the latter was burned down in Oct., 1892, but is now being rebuilt. Three foreign daily papers, the Hyogo News, the Kobe Herald, and the Kobe Chronicle, are published in Kobe, and there are one or two native papers. The population of Kobe-Hyogo in December, 1891 was 141,582. The number of foreign residents in Kobe in 1891 was 592 exclusive of Chinese, who numbered 940.

The old town of Hyogo is only divided from Kobe by the river Minato, which is spanned by a substantial stone bridge. Hyogo contains few features of interest, and the streets and shops are inferior to those of Kobe, its population being much smaller and nearly stationary. The Temple of Shinkoji, which possesses a large bronze Buddha, is worth a visit; and there is a monument to the Japanese hero Kiyomori, erected in 1286, in a grove of trees in the vicinity of the temple, which claims some attention from its historic associations. On the Kobe side of the Minato-gawa also stands a temple dedicated to Kusunski Masashige, so famous in Japanese history for loyalty and valour, who died on the spot in 1336 during the unsuccessful wars of the Restoration of the Mikado's power. In connection with the Imperial Shipbuilding Yard at Hyogo is a Patent Slip, which will accommodate vessels up to 2,000 tons. total length is 900 feet; length above water, 300 feet; breadth, 38 feet; declivity, 1 in 20. The slip is worked by hydraulic power.

Its

Kobe is connected with Osaka by rail, the distance between being twenty miles. This line, which was subsequently extended to Kyoto (the ancient capital of Japan), a distance of 27 miles from Osaka, was formally opened to traffic by the Mikado on the 5th February, 1887. It was further extended to Nagoya in 1888, and thence by degrees to Yokohama and Tokyo, and is now known as the Tokaido Railway. It was opened through its entire length (376 miles) in July, 1889. The connection of these important places with Kobe by rail has naturally tended to centralise trade at this fast rising port. The Sanyo railway is also now open as far as Mihara, 135 miles from Kobe, and is being vigorously pushed on to Shimonoseki, its ultimate terminus. Among the exports, tea, rice, camphor, copper, and vegetable wax, take the lead. The value of the import trade for 1891 was $25,700,501; that of the exports $21,733,718. In 1890, the value of imports was $32,011,004, and that of the exports $16,595,413. The quantity of tea shipped from Kobe-Hyogo in 1891 was 22,976,779 lbs., compared with 21,639,413lbs. in 1890. The whole of this went to the United States of America and Canada. Ship- building is an important industry of the port, and a goodly number of iron and wooden screw steamers are annually laid down here.